Method and apparatus for placing concrete sheet piles



Feb. 12 1924.

' D. J. IERMILIO METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PLACING CONCRETE SHEEIPILES 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 14. 1921 iminick 2 Feb. 12 1924. 1,483,574

D. J. ERMILIO METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PLACING CONCRETE SHEET FILES v F iled Sept. 14. 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet s Feb. 12, 1924. 1,483,574

D-. J. ERMILIO METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PLACING CONCRETE SHEET PILES Filed Sept. 14, 1921 4 sheets-sheet 4 0; W I V 4 l Patented Feb. 12, 1924.

DOMINICK J. ERMILIO, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JAMES L. -MODONALD, OF TOTTENVILLE, NEW YORK.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PLACING CONCRETE SHEET FILES.

Application filed September 14, 1921. Serial No. 500,619.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DoMINIoK J ERMILIO, a citizen of the United States, residing at Jersey City, county of Hudson, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods and Apparatus for Placing Concrete Sheet Piles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a new construction of concrete piles and method of placing the same.

According to the known methods of placing piles, water-under considerable pressure is forced into the ground for the purpose of dislodging the soil to form a hole into which the pile is then lowered by gravit-y,.or driven. H

These and other constructions and methods employed'heretofore showed serious disadvantages, which are eliminated by the present method of placing the concrete piles. For instance, each of the prior methods of driving piles has the inherent disadvantage that the piles were liable to crack, and that no positively and absolutely water-tight con nection between two adjacent piles could be obtained.

The object of the present invention does away with all these disadvantages by the provision of an earth displacer by means of which the foundation for the piles is excavated and the piles are successively placed into the excavation and positively locked to each other to form absolutely Watertight seams.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a pile construction and method of placing the same by which the jacking of the piles automatically produces the advancing movement of the earth displacer digging the foundation.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a pile construction and method of placing thesame, by means of which any number of'jacks may be used for pressing the piles together and by means of which a flaring pedestal may be produced for each of the piles. I j

A still. further object of the invention is 'thep'rovision of a groove and tongue connection between two adjacent piles leaving a space for the placing of a binding material.

Another object ofthe invention is the provision'of means forreadjusting the jacks ing. of the piles in a direction deviatin'g from a straight line to form a turn as for instance required in dock construction. a

A still further object of the inventioni the provision of means for hydraulically operating the jacks and shoes connected therewith. j

The invention is evidently capable of being embodied in numerous constructions differing in various details, and I therefore illustrate in the accompanying drawings the preferred form only as an example, without however intending to limit myself to only such form and modification.

Further advantages and objects of my in vention will, become known by reference to the following specification and accompanying drawings. v I

In the accompanying drawings, forming a material part of this specification:

Figure 1 is a top plan view partly in section of a hydraulic earth displacer used in connection with my invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged detail viewo-f a jack operating gear.

F' gure 3 is a side view of my earth displacer. I

Figure 4 is a detail view of the preferred form of jack adapted to be operated by hydraulic pressure.

Figure 5 is anend elevation of the displacer and a pile and form;

Figures 6, 16 and'ti are front, top plan and side elevations of a brace frame.

Figure 7 illustrates the method of placing theIpiles on a line deviating from a straight line.

Figure 8 shows in'top elevation a modi fied form of pile construction.

F'igure9 is a top'plan view of a jack holding column. I

Figure 10 is a. side elevation thereof, and

Figure 11 is a front elevation of the same.

Figure 12. is a vertical sectional view through the jack mechanism the section being taken on line 13 l3of Figure .1.

It will be clear that my piles may have any desired shape and form, and I wish therefore not to be limited' to 'thepreferred 26 of the same.

form illustrated in the drawings. As shown in these drawings the earth displacer 10 has the form of a vessel open at the rear end and provided at its front end with a plow share or trough maker 11. The side walls of the displacer 10 are flaring towards the outside at the bottom in order to prevent the displacer from sinking while it is moved forward and for allowing the construction of piles having a. flaring pedestal 12.

The side walls of the displacer are high enough to allow a sinkingof the foot part into the river bottom below the dredge line 13 while their upper part is still above the water level 14.

At the rear part the displacer carries 7 one or more hoppers 15 with which a shell portion 16 is made integral and closed on both sides, however open at the rear, as indicated at 17. p

One or more finished piles 18 provided with the customary reinforcing bars 19 are placed between the two walls of the displacer 10 before the same is brought into the water in order to balance the same and also in order to close the rear opening 17 of the earth displacer. I i

One of the piles 18 is made with a groove 20 in its front face While the next following one has a tongue 21 adapted to fit into the groove 20 of the preceding pile, and the tongues are on each of their side edges cut obliquely as indicated at 22 to allow the introduction of cement or any other suitable binding material into the spaces 23 thus formed in order to tightly bind the piles of one row together.

As shown in Figures 6, 6 and 6 a transverse steel frame 24 is provided within the displacer for bracing the inner walls 25 and This frame has central hollow spaces 24 and its side bars are connected between these spaces by means of a lattice work 27. The side bars of the frame 24 are connected by means of cross bars 28. The jacks 32 have pivotally secured thereto as at 31, heads or shoes 30, which are adapted to pass through the spaces 24 of the partition 24 into engagement with the front face of the pile 18 next in front of the shoes. It will be clear that any number of jacks may be used and that The teeth of the wheel 35 are in engagement with the teeth of rack bars 39 secured with their front ends to the shoes 30 as indicated at 41 said rack bars 39 are slidable in a frame 40, and connected by a plurality. of rods 41 to the jack casings 47. It will be clear that any number of jacks,

shafts, wheels and sliding frames may vbe provided. The jacks are removably held in frames or columns 42,. supported by a suitable frame work 43 in the earth displacer, and their rearward movement is limited by suitable abutments 44 or the like.

In Figure 4 a preferred form of jack is shown in which the jack 45 has a head 46 and is slida-bly arranged within a cylinder 47 provided with an inlet 48 for the hydraulic medium and with an inlet 49 for a pressure medium used to return the jacks 45 into their normal position.

The operation of the device and method of placing the piles will now be more fully described:

The earth displacer is sunk to the required depth into the river bed either by making use of a cofferdam, caissons or by itsown weight. In either case one or morepreviously prepared reinforced concrete piles are placed into the displacer at the open end thereof in order to balance it and also t close its rear end.

, After the displacer has settled in the required depth and its flared bottom supports it on the required level, the shoes will be operated by the corresponding jacks to engage the front face of the piles closing the rear end of the earth displacer, and fur.- ther operation of the jacks will propel the displacer head as soon as the pressure exceeds the resistance of the displacer, so that a space will be produced in front of the piles formerly placed within said displacer, which will be closed against the mud and dirt by said piles and the side walls of the displacer. When now the hopper is supplied with grout and gravel or concrete in the customary manner, a foot part or pedestal of cement 12 will be constructed. In this manner and on account of'the flaring bottom of the displacer a. reinforced concrete pile having a flaring front will be constructed as shown in Figure 5.

The inter-engagement between two adjoining piles is made positively and absolutely water-tight by pouring a binding material 7 into' the spaces 23 left for this purpose between the walls of the grooves and the tongues. If now the jacks are operated by pressure, they will force the shoes through the openings between two cross bars 28 form ing part of the frame 24: in engagement with the foremost pile thus pressing the same into intimate binding contact with the next following pile in rear of it.

After this is done and the pressure of the jacks exceeds: a certain limit or degree determined by the resistance of the displacer, etc., the continued pressure will move the displacer one step forward whereupon the jacks are released, and returned to normal position, so that a new pile can be placed and the previously described operations repeated.

Figure 7 illustrates the pile construction as deviating from a straight line. The piles 18 have their inner faces narrower than their outer faces.

Accordingly, if the outer face is for instance 18 inches wide, and the inner face is made 171} inches, and assuming the thickness of the pile is two feet, a deviation of 90 will be possible by constructing a curve of a radius of 75 feet. A sharper turn or curve will be possible by shortening the inner faces accordingly.

In Figures 8 and 9 a modified form of pile construction is illustrated on top plan and side views.

The piles 18 have alternating I-shape and cross-form as indicated at and 51 respectively, while the tongues are indicated at 52 and the spaces left in the grooves for the reception of the binding material are marked 53. The reinforcements in this form consist of steel bars 54 and hoops 55. The joints are marked 56. Below the dredge line, the face will have the appearance shown at 57 to increase the bearing capacity.

The pile illustrated in Figures 8 and 9 have the advantage of being lighter and therefore easier to handle and can be placed in sections by staggering the'joints as shown in Figure 9.

It will be clear however that the piles may have any shape and size.

In order to facilitate the forward movement of the displacer, a pair of nozzles 58 are provided at its forward end one on each side of the part 11 which are to be connected with suitable jets and work in the well known manner.

It will be clear that many changes may be made in the general arrangement as well as the execution of my method, and the construction of the minor details without deviating from the scope and spirit of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A device of the class described comprising an earth displacer, open at the rear and adapted to receive a number of prepared piles for closing the opening in the rear, means for pressing the piles into intimate contact, means for using said pressing means for advancing the displacer as soon as the pressure exceeds its resistance, means at the front of said displacer for making a trough in the river bottom, means for operating said pressing means and means for allowing the placing of a new pile in front of the first prepared pile in said displacer.

2. In a device of the class described the combination of an earth displacer adapted to receive a number of prepared piles, and containing a plurality of jacks, with means for advancing said displacer by pressure against piles to be placed therein, means for returning said jacks into their normal position, said means including a shaft, a plurality of toothed wheels on said shaft, each of said wheels having a central opening, a plurality of lugs secured to the inner periphery of said central opening, a ratchet wheel on said shaft within said first named wheel adapted to operate said wheel upon the operation of said shaft in one direction, and allowing the rotation of said wheels in the opposite direction independently.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature.

DOMINICK J. ERMILIO. 

